δύναμις

δυνάμεως, ἡ; (from Homer down); the Sept. for חַיִל, גְּבוּרָה, עֹז, כֹּחַ, צָבָא (an army, a host); strength, ability, power;
a. universally, "inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth": Lk 1:17; Acts 4:7; 1 Cor 4:20; 2 Cor 4:7; 2 Cor 12:9 (ἡ δύναμις ἐν ἀσθένεια τελεῖται (R G τελειοῦται)); ; 1 Thess 1:5; Heb 7:16; Heb 11:34; Rev 1:16; Rev 17:13; ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει, Acts 3:12; μεγάλη δυνάμει, Acts 4:33; ἑκάστῳ κατά τήν ἰδίαν δύναμιν, Mt 25:15; ὑπέρ δύναμιν, beyond our power, 2 Cor 1:8; ἐν δυνάμει namely, ὤν, endued with power, Lk 4:36; 1 Cor 15:43; so in the phrase ἔρχεσθαι ἐν δυνάμει, Mk 9:1; powerfully, Col 1:29; 2 Thess 1:11; contextually, equivalent to evidently, Rom 1:4; ἐν δυνάμει σημείων καί τεράτων, through the power which I exerted upon their souls by performing miracles, Rom 15:19; δύναμις εἰς τί, Heb 11:11; δύναμις ἐπί τά δαιμόνια καί νόσους θεραπεύειν, Lk 9:1; ἡ δύναμις τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος, sin exercises its power (upon the soul) through the law, i. e. through the abuse of the law, 1 Cor 15:56; τῆς ἀναστάσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ, the power which the resurrection of Christ has, for instructing, reforming, elevating, tranquilizing, the soul, Phm 3:10; τῆς εὐσεβείας, inhering in godliness and operating upon souls, 2 Tim 3:5; δυνάμεις μέλλοντος αἰῶνος (see αἰών, 3), Heb 6:5; τό πνεῦμα τῆς δυνάμεως (see πνεῦμα, 5), 1 Pet 4:14 Lachmann; 2 Tim 1:7; δύναμις is used of the power of angels: Eph 1:21 (cf. Meyer at the passage]) 2 Pet 2:11; of the power of the devil and evil spirits, 1 Cor 15:24; τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, i. e. of the devil, Lk 10:19; τοῦ δράκοντος, Rev 13:2; angels, as excelling in power, are called δυνάμεις (cf. (Philo de mutat. nora. § 8 δυνάμεις ἀσωματοι) Meyer as above; Lightfoot on Col 1:16; see ἄγγελος): Rom 8:38; 1 Pet 3:22. ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Θεοῦ, universally, the power of God: Mt 22:29; Mk 12:24; Lk 22:69; Acts 8:10; Rom 1:20; Rom 9:17; 1 Cor 6:14; δύναμις ὑψίστου, Lk 1:35; ἡ δύναμις, especially in doxologies, the kingly power of God, Mt 6:13 Rec.; Rev 4:11; Rev 7:12; Rev 11:17; Rev 12:10; Rev 15:8; Rev 19:1; and the abstract for the concrete (as הַגְּבוּרָה in Jewish writings; cf. Buxtorf Lex. talm. col. 385 (p. 201f, Fischer edition)) equivalent to ὁ δυνατός, Mt 26:64; Mk 14:62; δύναμις τοῦ Θεοῦ is used of the divine power considered as acting upon the minds of men, 1 Cor 2:5; 2 Cor 6:7; Eph 3:7, Eph 3:20; (2 Tim 1:8; 1 Pet 1:5); εἰς τινα, 2 Cor 13:4 (but WH in brackets); Eph 1:19; ἐνδύεσθαι δύναμιν ἐξ ὕψους, Lk 24:49; by metonymy, things or persons in which God's saving power shows its efficacy are called δυνάμεις Θεοῦ: thus, ὁ Χριστός, 1 Cor 1:24; ὁ λόγος τοῦ σταυροῦ, 1 Cor 1:18; τό εὐαγγέλιον, with the addition εἰς σωτηρίαν παντί, etc. Rom 1:16 (cf. Winer's Grammar, § 36, 3 b.). δύναμις is ascribed to Christ, now in one sense and now in another: a power to heal disease proceeds from him, Mk 5:30; Lk 5:17; Lk 6:19; Lk 8:46 the kingly power of the Messiah is his, Mt 24:30; (Mk 13:26); Lk 21:27; 2 Pet 1:16; Rev 5:12; ἄγγελοι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ (see ἄγγελος, 2), ministering to his power, 2 Thess 1:7 (Winer's Grammar, § 34, 3 b. note); metaphysical (or essential) power, viz. that which belongs to him as ὁ θεῖος λόγος, in the expression τό ῤῆμα τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, the word uttered by his power, equivalent to his most powerful will and energy, Heb 1:3; moral power, operating on the soul, 2 Cor 12:9 R G; and called ἡ θεία αὐτοῦ δύναμις in 2 Pet 1:3; ἡ δύναμις τοῦ κυρίου, the power of Christ invisibly present and operative in Christian church formally assembled, 1 Cor 5:4. δύναμις τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος: Acts 1:8 (Winer's Grammar, 125 (119)); πνεῦμα ἅγιον καί δύναμις, Acts 10:38; ἀπόδειξις πνεύματος καί δυνάμεως (see ἀπόδειξις, b.), 1 Cor 2:4; ἐν τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ πνεύματος, under or full of the power of the Holy Spirit, Lk 4:14; ἐν δυνάμει πνεύματος ἁγίου, by the power and influence of the Holy Spirit, Rom 15:13; by the power which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, I exerted upon their souls, Rom 15:19.
b. specifically, the power of performing miracles: Acts 6:8; πᾶσα δύναμις, every kind of power of working miracles (with the addition of καί σημείοις καί τέρασι), 2 Thess 2:9; plural: (Mt 13:54; Mt 14:2; Mk 6:14); 1 Cor 12:28; Gal 3:5; ἐνεργήματα δυνάμεων, 1 Cor 12:10; by metonymy, of the cause for the effect, a mighty work (cf. Winers Grammar, 32; Trench, § xci.): δύναμιν ποιεῖν, Mk 6:5; Mk 9:39; so in the plural, Mk 6:2 Lk 19:37; joined with σημεῖα, Acts 8:13; with σημεῖα καί τέρατα, Acts 2:22; 2 Cor 12:12; Heb 2:4 (?); ποιεῖν δυνάμεις, Mt 7:22; (); Acts 19:11; γίνονται δυνάμεις, Mt 11:20f, 23; Lk 10:13.
c. moral power and excellence of soul: 1 Cor 4:19; 2 Cor 4:7; Eph 3:16; Col 1:11.
d. the power and influence which belong to riches; (pecuniary ability), wealth: τοῦ στρήνους, 'riches ministering to luxury' (Grotius), Rev 18:3; κατά δύναμιν καί ὑπέρ (others, δύναμιν, according to their means, yea, beyond their means, 2 Cor 8:3; (in this sense, for חַיִל, the Sept. Deut 8:17; Ruth 4:11; not infrequent Greek writings, as Xenophon, Cyril 8, 4, 34; an. 7, 7, 21 (36)).
e. power and resources arising from numbers: Rev 3:8.
f. power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts, (so, both in singular and in plural, often in Greek writings from Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, on; in the Sept. and in Apocrypha); hence, δυνάμεις τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, the host of heaven, Hebraistically the stars: Mt 24:29; Lk 21:26; and δυνάμεις ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, Mk 13:25; equivalent to הַשָּׁמַיִם צְבָא, 2 Kgs 17:16; 2 Kgs 23:4; Isa 34:4; Jer 8:2; Dan 8:10, etc. (cf. σαβαώθ).
g. Like the Latinvis andpotestas, equivalent to the (force i. e.) meaning of a word or expression: 1 Cor 14:11; (Plato, Crat., p. 394 h.; Polybius 20, 9, 11; Dionysius Halicarnassus 1, 68; Dio Cuss. 55, 3; others).